Collecting and storing inventory data is one of the most crucial aspects of your business. In fact, it’s essential to have an accurate understanding of what goes in and out of your warehouse at all times. Most businesses, especially while starting off, use spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets to store their inventory data. However, as inventory grows, these businesses run into several issues because spreadsheets are not specifically designed to deal with complex inventory data.
Here are five reasons why you should not rely on spreadsheets to handle your inventory database.
When you work with a spreadsheet to manage your inventory, you only have an x-axis and y-axis to represent your data. Sure, rows and columns may be enough for a simple database. But as your inventory expands, you’ll need much more sophisticated tools.
As your inventory starts getting more and more complex, you’ll end up creating multiple spreadsheets that you have to refer to. Eventually, you’ll have a lot of data overlap between these sheets. Each time you update your inventory you’ll have to update each spreadsheet — which becomes more and more time-consuming, inefficient, and inaccurate.
Simply put, your inventory data deserves more security than spreadsheets can provide. A spreadsheet is very lightly protected, if at all. They are easily breached by a seasoned hacker.
Moreover, spreadsheets get routinely corrupted for no apparent reason. Sometimes, files simply won’t open. Other times, data is deleted by the system, or careless users. You know how important accurate inventory data is. Why would you allow it to be so vulnerable?
An inventory management team typically consists of more than one person, and each person is responsible for collecting data from a particular area. Ideally, all of them should have access to the database so that they can input data from their respective vantage points.
However, this becomes increasingly difficult to do with spreadsheets as team size increases. Moreover, sometimes you don’t want the entire database to be accessible to all. Such complex permissions are not possible with spreadsheets.
When you use spreadsheets, you miss out on the most important feature of an inventory management system: data analysis. Yes, spreadsheets can help you create some basic analysis, but you have to learn complicated formulas and enter them manually into the sheets.
Without looking at high-level insights from your data, your data is practically worthless. Spreadsheets don’t give you the cohesive, easy-to-read analytics you need to run a successful business.
Spreadsheets require users to manually input data into respective cells. Plus, most formulas have to be entered manually, too. This manual entry opens up a lot of possibilities for human errors that can be disastrous for your inventory management.
Inventory management software is much more efficient, more secure, and easier to use than spreadsheets. It allows users to enter data in a much more efficient manner. Fields are clearly marked and input types are well-defined, making the management process smooth and efficient.
Furthermore, when you use an inventory management system, the chance for human error is substantially reduced.
The best part about inventory management software is that all formulas and calculations are done automatically, without any human intervention. Taking all this into account, do you think it might be time to switch from spreadsheets to an inventory management system? If you’re curious how Cin7 can help, book your demo today.
Lost, obsolete or overstocked inventory drives up costs and destroys margins. Without inventory visibility, you won’t know your business is suffering until it’s too late.
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